The other day I came across an article on a site (I even posted it on my page on Facebook) about an artist who made some sketches to prove that using references is not cheating. Well, I always thought it was very important to study using references! This reminded me that there are people out there who think it's wrong, they think it's like you're “copying”, which isn't true. Wow, if I were to compare images that I used as a reference for some of my drawings, you wouldn't believe that I used that reference. Seriously!

Studying based on references is not wrong. It's a way for you to memorize, learn from real life, and create your style based on that. Don't get carried away by the closed mentality of some. Studying is important and using references is part of that study. You will never learn if you don't study and train based on real life, photos, etc.

And here come some sketches. Ironically, three of them I didn't use a reference, haha, but it's because I studied so much since I memorized them. Of course, they're not perfect, but it's a clear example of the importance of studying using references so that you can eventually create - from scratch - faces, bodies, etc. Female faces in front and in profile, for example, I can do it without using a single reference! And I even venture to make men's faces without reference too, hahaha. And I was shocked by the level of detail I was able to do without reference in one of the drawings I made this week... you'll see!

It helps a lot, including observing everything around you. Everything, really. You even end up memorizing certain elements unintentionally, which eventually appear in some of your drawings, hahaha.

Anyway, enough of the chatter. Let's get to the drawings! ;)

And that's it for today, friends. I hope you enjoyed it and that you will come back more often to check my evolution and that you can evolve with me too, of course! :)

Have a great week!